Tag Archives: trash night

Everything Goes Trash Night – Bizarro Christmas Year 3

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Once a year, our community has a special trash night were we are allowed to get rid of everything except mattresses.  Last year, I wrote about my community’s trash night in an article called “Everything Goes Trash Night – Bizarro Christmas Year 2”  where this special day is almost like a holiday for my wife and I.  It’s a great opportunity to get rid of clutter!

It’s the anti-thesis of Christmas where instead of receiving stuff, we get to toss stuff out!  Like last year, this year didn’t disappoint either!  We got rid of the following:

  • Old, slightly rusty grill
  • Plastic chairs and 1 soccer field chair
  • Snow thrower (my dad still calls them snow blowers, and so do I sometimes).
  • Razor scooter
  • Kid Toys

Interestingly, this year it was different!  In previous years, we’d put the stuff down at the bottom of the drive, and late in the night, people would come and pick things up, but this year they were early and everywhere!  First I wheeled down the grill, and while I was walking up the drive, someone stopped by and snagged it.  I went back down and asked if he needed help loading it, but he said he had a trailer with a ramp and he was going to wheel it up into his truck.  I watched and he did that right quick.

Next I put out the chairs, when once again when I got to the top of the drive a woman stopped and asked if she could have the chairs to which I said sure, I even ran up to the garage to get the soccer field chair for her.  She seemed happy.

Nothing was left down at the bottom of my drive, so I went backup and started to wheel down my biggest item… the snow thrower.  Once again, I got back up to the top of the drive when I heard a minivan stop.  Since this was the heaviest of the items and the minivan had a high gate, I walked back down to asked if he and his wife needed help loading it.  Since it was so heavy, I was afraid that this wife would have to help, and although I’m sure they could have done it… I was there already, so I offered.  Luckily for me, he had a buddy drive by with a pickup, and that was the perfect option.  We put it in the pickup, and away they drove.  They both thanked me and I wished them farewell.

I’ve lived at my house for 11 or 12 years now, but I just really started putting stuff down on “Everything goes trash night” starting three years ago.  Five years ago, I would have worked a bit harder to make the things I had last until they would totally break, and in fact, I did do that with my old lawnmower (Mean Green).  But this year, it was easy to part with my snow thrower and everything else.  I know that if I worked at it, I could have fixed the snow thrower, but it’s over 20 years old and there are much better models out now, so why not let someone else have it!  I’m sure it will make someone happy!

An hour later, I remembered that I wanted to get rid of my son’s razor scooter, so I rode it down and leaned it against the trash can.  Again, I was surprised when I heard a truck stop and just like a quick, cool breeze, it was gone!  Totally awesome!

Right now as I write this, I’m more content than on the real Christmas!  It’s funny how giving stuff (trash if you will) away can make you happy.  I know that I could have listed half of my old stuff on Craigslist and probably have made a bit off money, but this is even better!

Bizarro Santa

Bizarro Santa

Happy Bizarro Christmas, everybody…  It was another great year for me!

Don

Everything Goes Trash Night – Bizarro Christmas Year 2

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Our community has a special trash night were we are allowed to get rid of everything except mattresses.  I blogged out it last year as “Everything Goes Trash Night is Like Bizarro Christmas” where this special day is almost like a holiday for my wife and I.  It’s a great opportunity to get rid of clutter!

It’s the anti-thesis of Christmas where instead of receiving stuff, we get to toss stuff out!  This year didn’t disappoint!

Bizarro Santa

Bizarro Santa

The list of things that we tossed out included the following:

  • A plastic luggage traveling casing for traveling (this thing was huge and took up way to much space in my garage…  I was also very ugly).
  • A cheap black office chair that was broken (I had this for over 12 years).
  • A heavy mirror that has sat in the basement since we moved into our house.
  • A heavy metal computer tower model 486 (I have no idea why I kept it so long).
  • Our lighting fixture that was replaced recently (a Chandelier).
  • Old Bean Bags that were taking up space.
  • The coffee table that we never used that sat in the basement.
  • The kid’s sandbox that was too old and the kids never played with.
  • A small fridge from my college days. (Still worked and was the first thing picked up by drive by folks looking for good stuff).
  • and other miscellaneous junk.

We put our stuff out late, so we missed a few of the opportunistic drive by folks looking to breathe a second life into our stuff, but we still have a few.  First was the guy in an SUV that was nicer than my cars.  He just picked up the college dorm room fridge and left.  The second was a guy in a small pickup, the took the heavy mirror, our Chandelier, and the coffee table.  The garbage collectors got the rest.

Next year we’ll try to put out our stuff earlier, that way they might find a second home.  Or perhaps Bizarro Santa will come and take them to the island of misfits…

Cheers,

MR

Everything Goes Trash Night is Like Bizarro Christmas

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Bizarro Santa

Bizarro Santa

 

Today is almost like a holiday for me!  It’s the only day of the year that I do a bizarro twist in my trash routine and actually look forward to taking the trash out!

You see, in my city, once a year the city will pick up anything that doesn’t fix in the trashcan.  On this day it’s much like the Bizarro Christmas…

The conversations goes as follows…  this toy can go, that toy is broked, goodbye “Mean Green” lawnmower, broken sled, old basketball hoop and broken kite!

It’s a balance, I don’t want to throw everything away, and actually some things were saved by my daughter…  Hello old yucky kitchen set that my daughter still wants, hello old but-still-in-decent-shape bike that my son want to give to Goodwill.

Everything Goes Trash night is a busy night for tinkerers!  For they play the role of bizarro Santa during this fine reverse Christmas day!

As my wife was sitting in our bedroom, she heard a noisy truck than made such a clatter (the noise woke up my son too).  With the TV and lights turned off in both bedrooms, my wife and son in parallel watch as a man in a old red sleigh pickup truck take “Mean Green” (my old broken lawnmower) away.

As I stopped to watch too, I feel guilty knowing that “Mean Green” was pretty busted up and even missing a handle.  But that doesn’t stop the tinkerer man, he goes right to work and heaves it onto his truck bed much like Santa does with a bag full of toys as he put them on his red sleigh.  The tinkerer didn’t look up and went right to work, shifting his truck to run as it took off with a noisy jerk!  I start to wonder if we should have left cookies and milk…

As I’m typing this I can hear the tinkerer’s truck on other stops in the neighborhood.  the clanging of other mechanical things onto his truck (which was actually pretty full when he took my lawnmower).

You might think that I’m making fun of this man (the tinkerer), but actually, I think he’s awesome and here’s why:

  1. The tinkerer will try to make something that will work out of the mechanical trash that he collects (but probably not “Mean Green”, because it was very busted up).
  2. The parts that doesn’t work may be recycled as he takes the metal chassis and other pieces of such very broken machines to a metal recycling center.  To make money of course!
  3. By salvaging these machines, he is keeping money in the economic system.  When the pieces go to the junkyard, these machines/materials leave the economic system.  So he is in his own way helping the enconomy.  Betcha didn’t see that one coming!
  4. Obviously, the machines he takes partially won’t go to the landfill and this is a very green activity.

So I really like this special day because I get rid of our oddball and large broken trash, but it’s also a very green day with tickerers coming out to save the day!

Bests,

-MR